Influencer marketing is everywhere now. 89% of marketers report that the ROI from influencer marketing is better than other marketing channels.
While brands now understand better how powerful influencer marketing can be, most still don’t know how to find, contact, or even work with influencers.
In this article, we will explore everything about influencer marketing agencies and, most importantly, how they can help scale your results and maximize ROI.
What is an influencer marketing agency?
An influencer marketing agency is a company with a team of influencer marketing professionals. They help brands find and contact influencers and manage influencer marketing campaigns tailored to their needs and specific goals.
As experts in influencer marketing, they know everything from the latest trends to the best practices. They can also help brands manage all the tasks and chores involved in running campaigns.
In other words, you can see them as masterminds in the creator economy.
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So, what do influencer marketing agencies actually do?
Influencer marketing agencies offer various services to help brands create successful influencer campaigns. They can help
find, identify, and select influencers who align with the brand’s target audience and goals.
create engaging campaigns with clear objectives
manage influencer relationships
measure campaign effectiveness to make data-driven decisions for future campaigns.
By handling the logistics of influencer campaigns, influencer marketing agencies allow brands to focus on other aspects of their business while still benefiting from the impact of influencer marketing.
Sounds great, right? If this is exactly what you are looking for, why not book a call with us now so we can discuss more about achieving your business goal. (Don’t worry it’s free)
Next, we will go deeper into the services of influencer marketing agencies.
Find, identify and select influencers
One of the primary services that influencer marketing agencies offer is identifying and selecting the right influencers to collaborate with.
This involves analyzing the influencer’s audience, engagement rates, and overall reach to ensure they align with the brand’s target audience and goals.
By working with the right influencers, brands can ensure their campaigns reach the right audience and drive meaningful results.
Create influencer marketing campaigns
Influencer marketing agencies also work with brands to create engaging and effective influencer marketing campaigns. This involvesdeveloping a strategy, communicating with influencers, determining the proper content format, and setting clear objectives for the campaign.
By taking a strategic approach to influencer marketing, these agencies help brands create impactful, memorable campaigns that drive results.
Manage influencer relationships
Once the influencers are selected, the agency manages the communication and relationship between the influencer and the brand.
You may wonder how complicated it can be to negotiate with an influencer. Well, the negotiation usually includes the following tasks such as
negotiating contracts
setting deadlines
ensuring the content aligns with the brand’s messaging.
taking care of the logistics of influencer campaigns
tracking and analyzing the performance
We’ve only listed a few overly simplified ones. Influencer marketing agencies can handle all of these hassles so that brands can focus more on other things.
Measure campaign effectiveness
Finally, influencer marketing agencies track and analyze the performance of influencer campaigns to determine their effectiveness and make data-driven decisions for future campaigns.
What are the most common metrics to track? The answer may vary depending on every brand’s business goals. Engagement rates, impressions, and conversions are all possible metrics. If you are not clear about what you should track, don’t worry we are here to help you out.
Plus, agencies can optimize campaigns in real-time to ensure maximum impact by monitoring and analyzing campaign performance.
In the next section, we will discuss why you should consider working with an agency.
Why work with an influencer marketing agency?
Working with an influencer marketing agency can be very beneficial. If brands want to execute successful, high-performing influencer marketing campaigns, agencies can provide access to expertise, efficiently use time and resources, and maximize ROI.
Expertise
Influencer marketing agencies’ experts know the industry well. They are the best players in the game.
They all have extensive experience identifying the right influencers to create effective campaigns and measure their success.
By leveraging their expertise, agencies can tackle specific needs better and more efficiently than inexperienced marketers.
Use time and resources efficiently
Most people don’t know that running an influencer marketing campaign can be very time-consuming. Talk with us today and we will start from there
Increased ROI
Influencer marketing agencies can help brands maximize their ROI by creating effective campaigns. Like, they just can.
The agencies have worked with many influencers before, and they can always identify the most effective strategies for reaching the target audience, negotiating fair rates with influencers, and measuring campaign success to ensure maximum impact.
Simply said, they know what they are doing and they respect your time and money.
Next, we will introduce some factors to consider when choosing the right influencer marketing agency.
How to choose an influencer marketing agency
While partnering with the right influencer marketing agency can make all the difference in the success of your campaigns.
Key factors are also important to consider, such as industry experience, reputation, service offered, and your budget.
Factors to consider
Industry experience
Some influencer marketing agencies specialize in a particular industry, such as gaming, fitness, or fashion. Before working with them, ensure their expertise or specialization aligns with your campaign.
If the agency is not as industry-specific, you can still ask them for previous case studies or works related to your area of interest as a prove of their expertise.
Reputation
A strong reputation is a good indicator of an agency’s ability to deliver results.
So, how do we know if an agency has a good reputation? Look for agencies with a track record of success and positive reviews from past clients. You can ask them directly if they have any, check social media for mentions, or check their websites for case studies that will showcase their results and introduce you to their working method.
Services offered
Some influencer marketing agencies may specialize in different services, from influencer identification and outreach to campaign strategy and measurement. Choosing an agency that offers all the services you need to execute your campaign successfully is crucial.
Budget
Influencer marketing agency fees may vary widely. Mostly depending on the scope of services offered and the agency’s level of expertise. Some agencies even charge consultation fees once you meet with them, even before the first campaigns roll out. (But feel free to talk with us – no base cost)
Choosing an agency that fits your budget while still delivering the quality of work you need is essential. This is why, here are 10 questions you should ask an agency before working with them.
Questions to ask when evaluating agencies
When evaluating influencer marketing agencies, here are some questions to ask:
1. What is your experience working within our industry? 2. Can you provide case studies from past clients? 3. What services do you offer? 4. What is your pricing structure? 5. What is your approach to influencer selection and outreach? 6. How do you measure the success of influencer campaigns? 7. How do you ensure that campaigns align with our brand values and messaging? 8. How do you manage influencer relationships and ensure they meet campaign requirements?
By asking these questions and considering the factors outlined above, you can make an informed decision about which influencer marketing agency is the best fit for your brand’s needs and goals.
Conclusion
Influencer marketing agencies can be the angular stone of a successful influencer marketing campaign, especially for those companies that prefer a more hands-off approach.
Partnering with an agency offers benefits such as access to expertise, efficient use of time and resources, and increased ROI. Choosing the right agency is crucial to the success of your campaigns. Factors worth considering include industry experience, reputation, client references, services offered, and budget.
By asking the right questions, brands can find an agency that meets their needs and delivers results. If brands are looking to connect with their target audience more efficiently, Influencer marketing is valuable in all aspects and should be included in your marketing strategy now.
Plus, every social media user is active on 6 different platforms on average, which is why, cross-posting could possibly reach them multiple times and provide a longer-lasting impression of your brand.
Plus, each social media audience is slightly different. Posting the same branded content on different social media platforms will ensure that different audience can see it.
Save time and money
Cross-posting simplifies the whole process – from planning to posting – and in the end, it saves time and money.
In this way, campaigns can quickly go live on multiple channels without the need for separate plans for each social media platform.
Fast and consistent
Cross-posting keeps your brand’s look and message consistent. When each social platform has its own style, it’s easy to stray from your brand identity.
Using the same content across platforms helps maintain a clear and unified brand image. After all, cross-posting is efficient for launching fast campaigns across various platforms, saving time and money while keeping your brand’s image consistent.
Creating Tailored Content for Each Social Media: Is It Worth It?
So, why craft different content for each social media platform? It’s all about tapping into what makes each platform special.
Many marketers stand by this approach. A HootSuite study showed that 18% of marketers who customize their content for each platform are the most confident in their content’s value.
Every social network has its own set of rules and formats – take Twitter, for example, with its 280-character limit per tweet. Plus, each platform’s algorithm treats content differently, affecting how much your posts get seen based on what the platform favors.
It’s becoming clear that tailored content can better resonate with each platform’s specific audience and their preferences.
But what’s in it for your campaigns? Crafting platform-specific content can transform your marketing in three significant ways:
Customizing for Each Platform
Crafting content that fits each platform’s unique features can lead to more engagement.
Content that resonates with your brand and marketing goals, and also meshes with the platform’s culture and audience’s likes, will likely draw more views, likes, and comments.
Authenticity Matters
Creating platform-specific content enhances authenticity and connects better with the audience. Given that social media users are often active on multiple platforms, they’re likely to encounter your brand multiple times.
Tailoring each message to the platform it appears on adds a personal touch, making your brand feel more relatable and authentic.
Even slight variations in your messaging can resonate differently, engaging the same audience in various ways and boosting your campaign’s success.
Leveraging Platform Strengths
Each social media platform offers unique advantages that can be leveraged for your campaign’s success. By designing content with a specific platform in mind, you can provide a comprehensive view of your product.
For instance, engaging, short videos work well on TikTok, while YouTube is ideal for detailed reviews and personal experiences. Instagram thrives on high-quality images and short videos, whereas Facebook is great for longer, descriptive posts.
In summary, platform-specific content is key for engaging your audience, maintaining authenticity, and delivering effective messages. However, this approach requires more time and resources due to the need for unique content creation for each platform.
Cross-posting or not? That’s the Question
Before deciding between cross-posting and creating unique content for each platform, it’s crucial to understand the factors that can impact your campaign’s success.
Understanding Your Audience
The first step is to know your audience’s demographics. Who will engage with your content? Discovering how your audience uses different social media platforms, and which ones they prefer, is essential.
You might cross-post on platforms where your target audience is less active and create new content for their favorite spaces.
Also, consider their content preferences, as some platforms may be known for videos or text, but your audience might use them differently.
Platform Limitations
Each social media platform has its own rules and limitations, which can affect how you share content, especially if it’s made for another platform.
For example, a lengthy article might be divided into several tweets to fit Twitter’s character limit. Consider how these adaptations fit into your overall campaign and brand image.
Maintaining Brand Identity
When choosing between cross-posting and unique content, think about your campaign goals and brand identity guidelines.
Using fewer creative variations can help keep a consistent brand image but might not align with each platform’s norms.
Working with Influencers
Finally, consider how influencers interact with different platforms.
Some might not be active on all channels, making it unnecessary to ask for cross-posting there.
Others might use certain platforms for specific aspects of their personal brand, influencing where your brand should be featured.
Cross-posting best practices
Exploring Hybrid Strategies for Content Sharing
Deciding between cross-posting and crafting unique content doesn’t have to be an either/or situation. A hybrid strategy often offers the best of both worlds.
Take, for instance, a TikTok video that seamlessly becomes an Instagram Reel, saving the effort of creating new content for platforms where short videos thrive. On platforms less suited to short videos, original content can shine.
Consider a “content waterfall” strategy: start with a major piece tailored for one platform, then adapt and share derivatives on others. For example, a detailed YouTube review could be condensed into bite-sized clips for TikTok and Instagram, with photos and text summaries for Facebook and Tumblr.
This method balances creativity with efficiency, ensuring each platform’s users enjoy a tailored experience.
Testing the Waters with Cross-Posting
The key to a successful strategy lies in experimentation. Both cross-posting and unique content creation come with advantages and challenges.
The best choice depends on your brand’s specific context. By testing both methods and analyzing their impact on key metrics, you’ll gain insights into what works best for your brand.
Armed with data and a deeper understanding of different strategies’ benefits, you can make informed decisions to enhance your brand’s online presence.
Conclusion
Deciding between cross-posting and creating unique content for each social platform hinges on understanding your audience, platform specifics, and campaign goals.
While cross-posting extends reach efficiently, tailored content can deepen engagement and authenticity. Often, a blend of both strategies, adapted to your brand’s needs, proves most effective.
Experimentation is vital; test both approaches to see what resonates best with your audience. The right balance can amplify your influencer marketing efforts, making your campaigns more impactful.
For deeper insights and strategies tailored to boost your brand’s presence, explore our platform.
Not every brand can afford to pay one of the Kardashians six figures for a single social media post.
In the current influencer marketing landscape, if you want to keep the costs down while having better reach and engagement, micro-influencers are here to stay.
In this article, we are going to explore micro-influencers, what they are better than others, why they are effective, how to work with them in a campaign, and the most common mistakes you should avoid based on our own experience. Here we go.
Althoguh…if you want to jump straight into action, feel free to contact us and start your next campaign right away.
Understanding Micro-Influencers
First, we need to define what micro-influencers are and what makes them different from other influencers.
What Are Micro-Influencers?
The most common way to split influencers is based on their follower count.
1 M+: Mega influencers or Celebrities
100K to 1M: Macro influences
10K to 100K: Micro-influencers
1K to 10K: Nano-influencers
Micro-influencers have a pretty sizable following but are still manageable for a more individualized and authentic approach and connection.
Their content is deeply connected to their niche and also reflected in the highly segmented audience.
Why micro-influencers are so important?
Micro-influencers are the lifeblood of influencer marketing. While campaigns that feature large accounts may catch more general attention, micro-influencers carry on most of the work and bring the results home.
With their audience between 10K and 100K, they are in a sweet spot regarding their connection with the audience: their message can reach a large enough pool of people for marketing campaigns, meanwhile it still remains authentic to the viewers.
To put this into data, we pulled out some insight from our influencer database to find out exactly where micro influencers excel and by how much.
What we discovered
The content creators between 10k and 100k subscribers are posting regularly: almost 3 times a week on YouTube, 1 time a week on TikTok, +50% from the 1K to 10K bracket, and 1.2 times per week on Instagram.
This data shows how they are dedicated to keeping their audience aware and engaged.
Their audience is enjoying this dedication and it shows with high engagement rates: on TikTok, a micro-influencer can expect upward of 8.5%, breaking any industry standard that would see a 5% as an excellent result.
YouTubers of the same size only reach a 3.6% engagement rate on average. Although it may seem disappointing but it also is related to how the data are calculated. For both platforms, the number of interactions on each post (like, dislike, share, comments) is divided by the number of views each piece of content receives.
The average micro-TikToker has just a bit more than 130K views, while the average YouTuber in the same subscriber bracket is looking to pass 11 million views. 100 times more views.
This comparison should also highlight how certain platforms can generate much more loyal and dedicated audiences than others.
The Power of Authenticity
Micro-influencers offer a great compromise between authenticity, content quality, and professionalism.
Their content is well curated and not too polished, it make their audience feel their interest and passion authentically, which is hard to see in the ones with bigger influencers.
This middle-ground situation provides the audience with good enjoyable content while still preserving a more authentic and connected experience.
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As a marketer, you may wonder: why not just partner with a larger influencer and get more traffic on the sponsored content? There is a myriad of reasons, here are the five main ones:
Niche Relevance
Many micro-influencers are “stuck” in the tier because the content they make is specialized and aimed towards a few particular interests.
They grow to be experts in their field and are highly regarded by the community around them but in many cases, the particular community they are part of is not large enough to make them grow over the micro-influencer level.
For marketers designing a campaign, this is extremely helpful since it allows them to target very detailed and segmented audiences.
High Engagement
Micro-influencers grow deep and organic connections with their audience. As a result, the audience is very involved and reactive to the influencer’s content.
Similarly, since the content is centered around a specific topic, many audience members keep endorsements and recommendations coming from micro-influencers in high regard.
Cost-Effectiveness
When considering their trusted nature, high engagement rates, and segmented reach micro-influencers offer a much more cost-effective approach to influencer marketing than larger influencers.
Enhanced Credibility
Micro-influencers base their success on being at the forefront of their field and bringing valuable information to their audience.
Therefore, their audience trusts them and feels they are a reliable source of information. Comparatively larger influencers and celebrities’ area of expertise is less defined leading to them being seen as less reliable on specialized issues.
Implementing a Successful Micro-Influencer Campaign
Micro-influencers are amazing and all. But how can they be used in a marketing campaign?
Identifying the Right Influencers
First of all, it is important to find the influencers that match your campaign. Both form a content and values standpoint.
But even more important is to have a good workflow that allows us to identify indicators of a potential partnership and to find creators at scale.
CreatorDB gives you the tools to find the right influencers and easily compare them, understand their strengths, and contact them.
Leverage the tools and expertise of CreatorDB’s influencer database, to streamline influencer identification and campaign creation. Book a free consultation to learn how to boost your ROI with influencers.
Crafting a Compelling Campaign
Once the influencers have been chosen it is important to create a campaign that plays both the brand and the influencers’ strengths.
Follow these three guidelines to ace it:
Establishing Clear Objectives
It’s important to have in mind what is the campaign goal before starting to find influencers and discussing deliverables.
This way it is possible to already have an idea of what kind of qualities are preferable in the influencers to partner with, and which kind of platforms are preferable.
Leveraging Storytelling for Impact
Connect the creator’s story with the brand. This way the campaign will have more chances to resonate with the audience and leave a lasting impression.
Let the creator help in this phase, they are knowledgeable on how to create content for their audience.
Creative Freedom Yields Authenticity
Allow the creators to express themselves, and give their touch to the campaign. This way the campaign will feel more connected with the greater and play along the authenticity bond that the audience is already having with the micro-influencer.
Tracking and Measuring Results
While the campaign is running, make sure to have the goals with measurable metrics and keep track of those.
Tracking the ongoing campaign allows you to know when it needs adjustments or optimization. This way is possible to take action before being fully committed to a suboptimal strategy.
Avoiding Common Pitfalls in Micro-Influencer Marketing
While there are plenty of upsides to using micro-influencers, there are also some risks that brands should be aware of to prevent them from becoming problems.
Overlooking Authenticity and Audience Relevance
Not all that shines is gold. It’s important to evaluate the sentiment around a creator, while most creators have audiences that truly enjoy their content and are dedicated to them, a few people built a following on what is called hate-watching.
By taking into consideration the sentiment around a creator’s posts, it is possible to understand if the audience is on board or just enjoying a trashcan fire.
Similarly, it is important to look at the audience’s interests and what they like to understand if they are a good fit for the brand.
The audience’s interest in the campaign is paramount to its success.
Lack of Clear Communication and Expectation Setting
Many micro-influencers are not well prepared to deal with brands or may lack the experience of being part of a large marketing campaign. This can lead to difficulties in having clear communication or understanding of what is expected from them.
It’s helpful for creators to establish an approval process and a framework for them to build their content.
Ignoring Guidelines and Disclosure Requirements
Countries are rapidly implementing regulations for influencer marketing, especially around the disclosure of sponsored posts.
Some of these rules may be new and not yet known to the micro-influencers involved in the campaign. Is important to make sure to bring them up to speed.
Influencer marketing has become an increasingly popular strategy for businesses looking to reach new audiences and increase brand awareness. But for many, it still is a black and nebulous box in which they don’t see any advantage.
At its core influencer marketing can be seen as an offshoot of celebrity endorsement. Like the former, it piggybacks off the popularity and social proof of public figures by associating a product with them and therefore making it desirable to the audience.
Contrary to celebrity endorsement, influencer marketing does not have to rely on widely known personalities to be effective but can target niche communities to activate very specific audiences.
What can influencers do for you?
So if it relies on little-known people how can it be effective? Well, in the current social media landscape hundreds of thousands if not millions of people have turned themselves into content creators. Content creators, also called influencers, use their online platform to talk about what they enjoy: movies, books, sports, or even 15th-century typography. Thanks to the wide reach of social media platforms creators can reach similarly-minded people and build communities around their persona and passions. In turn, companies can partner with influencers relevant to their product and have access to a highly relevant audience thanks to them. These kinds of partnerships allow companies to focus their marketing efforts on only relevant prospects and deliver out-of-the-ordinary ROI without the need to rely on external data or guessing keywords.
What makes influencers different?
Influencers are like snowflakes: no two are the same. As we saw above they cover many different topics and that’s one of the most evident differences between creators. But, not the only one: different platforms lend themselves to different types of content: Instagram and TikTok promote short-form video content, LinkedIn and Facebook also integrate written content and YouTube is amazing for long-form videos. Different content formats attract slightly different audiences even if the topic of the content is the same. The following size is arguably the most hyped metric when it comes to influencers. And that’s for a reason: is easy to look at and makes a case for large influencers to be highly valuable for a marketing push since they can bring your product in front of a very large audience. It is also important to realize that audiences interface very differently between small influencers and large ones: followers develop a parasocial relationship with the influencers they follow. This means that they start to consider such influencers almost at the same level as close friends, even if they never interacted 1 to 1. These relationships are generally stronger with smaller creators since the interactions are felt more authentic and genuine than with larger influencers.
Reach VS Relevancy
Of course, partnering with smaller influencers also means that fewer people are going to see your message.
Once a content category that is relevant to your product is identified the next step is to do a balancing work between reach, provided by large accounts, and relevancy, provided by smaller accounts. This is a spectrum with most influencers finding themselves somewhere in the middle, therefore many of them provide a good deal.
But certain campaigns are more focused on brand recognition or awareness and they will skew their influencer selection towards a more ample reach. While those marketers who are looking to boost sales are going to prefer smaller creators who are more deeply connected with their audience.
Why is it important to have good-fitting influencers
As we have seen not all influencers are the same. In a sea as vast as social media finding the right ones for your company can be a daunting task.
Concurrently enrolling influencers that fit your company image is one of the most important parts of an influencer marketing campaign.
So how can you make sure to find and enroll the right influencers? It’s all a matter of influencer discovery.
But before that, we need to have a clear understanding of what makes an influencer a good fit.
What makes good-fitting influencers
Influencers can cover different topics, have vastly different following sizes, and use different content formats. But how does this translate to fitting or not a company image? First to consider is the topic the influencer covers: certain companies and products can draw a direct line to specific content niches. For example, a car accessories brand will find good fits by contacting creators who created content about cars and car customization. But other products may not have such direct connections: mobile games and online services often cater to a vast audience not enclosed in a content category. For these cases is important to think about use cases and how they can relate to different content niches. In our experience, Notion is a great example: their software can be used in an infinite number of ways for an infinite number of purposes. To highlight it they didn’t provide a unified ad copy but they required creators to come up with their way of using the software to introduce it to their audience and make it more relatable to their needs. As we saw different following sizes can lead to a different relationship with the audience and that is one factor that is going to have a profound impact on a campaign’s effectiveness. Campaigns that aim to bring a brand name to a large audience but don’t care about immediate conversions will prefer to partner with large influencers in their niche while when conversions are at the center of the attention smaller creators are going to be better suited. Each creator also has its tone and way of presenting themselves that needs to be taken into consideration and assessed if fits the brand image.
How to evaluate influencer performances for any content verticals
While the following size is the most flashy indicator of how successful a content creator is, it’s not the only one. Growth rate, engagement rate, and community sentiment are even more important to take into consideration before signing a collaboration. In the end, you don’t want to risk handing money to someone who bought a lot of fake followers but has no actual viewers. Growth and engagement rates can be calculated manually and the sentiment can be gauged by looking at the comment section. But when it comes to doing it for tens or hundreds of different profiles is a very time-consuming process. This is where software like CreatorDB comes in handy: we provide all the above-mentioned metrics in one place making it easy to filter for the desired qualities and compare different influencers on their performances. You can head over to our SaaS and start a free trial to practice and see how simple is going to be. If you need some help on how to start with our software just scroll down to find a step-by-step guide.
Simplify your evaluation process with CreatorDB
Analyzing influencer metrics is crucial to finding the right influencer for your brand collaboration. It’s essential to look beyond the number of followers an influencer has and consider other key metrics that can help you determine the influencer’s value to your brand.
Learn everything you need to know about all the metrics that matter in our Analytics 101.
One important metric to consider is the engagement rate. An influencer’s engagement rate indicates how active their followers are and how likely they are to engage with your brand.
Look for influencers with high engagement rates, as they are more likely to drive engagement and conversions for your brand.
Another key metric to consider is audience demographics. It’s crucial to ensure that an influencer’s followers match your target audience, as this will increase the likelihood of them being interested in your product or service.
Look for influencers whose followers align with your target audience regarding age, gender, location, and interests.
Finally, consider the influencer’s overall brand fit and whether their values and messaging align with your brand. By reviewing their content, previous collaborations, and general online presence, you can evaluate how good of a fit they are.
By using CreatorDB you can easily find each creator’s metrics and compare them in the blink of an eye. CreatorDB’s profiles are structured to give you all you need:
First, you will see the creator’s overview with information about the content creator’s YouTube channel.
Along with this first introduction, you can find an overview of the main analytics for the content creator and other social media.
Further down, you can see performance metrics, audience demographics, related channels, and a detailed overview of the YouTube channel including the expected CPM.
Further down can be found all the recent videos, with a detailed breakdown of their achievement and the most recent sponsors of the channel. A complete analysis of the other creator’s social media can be also found showing engagement rates, growth, and much more. Lastly, all the analytics are combined in charts to give an overview of how the influencer has performed in the past and what’s the current trajectory.
How to find influencers for free
Now you know what makes influencers different, and how these differences can help your campaign achieve its goals. It’s time to go over the most important part: finding influencers that fit your criteria.
Social media platforms offer search functions that can be leveraged to find influencers for free. All you need is just create an account and a lot of patience.
Since each platform is different there are advantages and disadvantages to using each native tool. In the next section, we will go over how to get the best results out of Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok search capabilities.
Influencer discovery on Instagram (2 Ways)
1st way, native search
One of the best ways to discover profiles on Instagram is to go to the search tab and type in a hashtag related to the type of content you are interested in. We recommend using the mobile app otherwise Instagram will limit your results to 28. Then you can manually check each post and the profile who posted it, write down the handle following count, and other relevant information. Create a spreadsheet with all this data and use it to evaluate each profile to find the best fitting for you.
2nd way, Google search
If you don’t want to use the mobile client, your best option is to leverage Google search to find content posted on Instagram. By starting your search with the operator “site:instagram.com” you are going to limit the results to only pages coming from Instagram. You can follow it with hashtags related to your topic of interest and then manually note down the profiles and the information relevant to your campaign to find good-fitting influencers.
Influencer discovery on YouTube
Even if is not evident, YouTube uses hashtags and allows users to search content by them. So to find content creators relevant to your campaign you can head over to the search tab on YouTube and type in any relevant hashtag to obtain a list of videos that include the hashtags in their description. Once again, you can manually take notes of the channels and the important information about them to more easily compare and evaluate them. N.B. YouTube is heavily pushing Shorts and they will be heavily featured in every search.
Influencer discovery on TikTok
Unlike the previous services, TikTok does not offer a search based on hashtags. Clicking on a hashtag will lead you to a page showing all content tagged with that hashtag, but searching for a hashtag will not and results that have the term only in the caption or that the system considers relevant will still be present in your results.
You can get rid of this problem by finding one reel featuring your desired hashtag and clicking on it.
Once you see content relevant to your campaign, you can start taking notes about the creators and their analytics to evaluate their performances and discover the best-fitting ones.
Discover influencers on other platforms
Researching niche platforms and organic communities is another effective way to find influencers for your brand. Niche platforms and communities focus on specific interests, hobbies, or topics. These communities can be valuable for finding influencers with a dedicated following within a particular niche.
For example, if you’re looking for influencers in the fitness industry, research fitness communities outside social media like BodyBuilding.com. These communities have members passionate about fitness and follow influencers who share their interests.
Within these communities, you can find users that have grown their reputation over the years and may be happy to sponsor your products.
While not influencers in the strict sense of the word, prominent forum members are, to some extent, the grandfathers of modern influencers and can help your marketing campaign, especially if you are targeting a more insular and less mainstream community.
Best tools for influencer discovery
As we just saw there are free ways to perform influencer discovery effectively and collect all the information relevant to plan which influencer to enroll in a campaign but they can be very time-consuming.
In this case, many companies have opted for influencer discovery tools to make easier the whole process and save an incredible amount of time.
Find the most fitting influencers with CreatorDB (tutorial)
Once you have your account open the app and click on advanced search:
On the left of the screen, you will find the search console with all the filters you can apply.
Our database covers YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
Let’s say we need to find YouTube channels that talk about baking, in the United States, and have more than 10.000 subscribers.
Under Channel Overview we can find all the filters we need:
Then hit search, and you will have a list of all the YouTube channels fitting the criteria.
But how this is going the help us compare them? We can see some metrics already like average views and engagement rate but to really dig deep into any of these metrics we want to hit “Sheet View” in the right up corner.
Doing so is going to allow us to decide which to include and sort the list by those metrics making it easier to highlight the creators that fit our search.
Hovering over the profile picture will allow you to add the creator to a list and keep track of who is promising for your campaign.
How to get in contact with influencers with CreatorDB
Once you identified the content creators you are interested in, it can be complicated to get in contact with them: their DMs can be already flooded and they can not easily figure out their email address. On CreatorDB, we provide contact information for many of the influencers listed in our database.
Once you established the creators you want to contact, open their profile and look just under the introduction on the left, you can find a button to view the creator’s email.
N.B. not all creators have an available email address.
When pitching the partnership, grab their attention and clarify that you know who they are and value their work. Personalized emails are highly recommended. Introduce your product and make clear why they are a good fit for it.
Contextualize it in the campaign they will be part of.
If you want to improve your game when contacting influencers, read our 5-step guide.
The mistakes to avoid when you are looking for influencers
1. Solely focus on the number of followers
When searching for influencers, one common mistake is solely focusing on the influencer’s number of followers. While it may seem like a high follower count equates to a high level of influence, this isn’t always the case.
It’s important to remember that, tactics such as buying followers or growing followers’ numbers with bots, and are cheaper than growing other metrics calculated over time.
Instead of solely focusing on follower count, it’s important to consider other metrics more indicative of an influencer’s value to your brand. Engagement rate, for example, is a more accurate measure of an influencer’s ability to drive engagement and conversions.
Additionally, it’s essential to consider the influencer’s overall brand fit and whether their values and messaging align with your brand.
Focusing solely on follower count can lead to collaborations with influencers who may not be the best fit for your brand, resulting in a disconnect between your brand and the influencer’s audience.
By considering a range of metrics and evaluating the influencer’s overall brand fit, you can ensure that your collaborations are more effective and meaningful for both your brand and the influencer.
2. Ignore engagement rates
When evaluating an influencer, it’s important to consider their engagement rate. Engagement rate refers to the percentage of an influencer’s followers actively engaging with their content through likes, comments, shares, and other interactions.
High engagement rates indicate an influencer’s ability to connect with and influence their audience. Low engagement rates indicate that an influencer’s audience is disengaged or not highly interested in their content.
Engagement rates are a more accurate measure of an influencer’s value to your brand when compared to follower count. An influencer with a smaller but highly engaged following may be more valuable to your brand than an influencer with a large but disengaged following. High engagement rates can lead to increased visibility for your brand, as well as higher levels of engagement and conversions.
It’s essential to keep in mind that engagement rates can vary widely depending on the influencer’s niche, industry, and audience demographics.
For example, an influencer with a highly engaged audience of niche enthusiasts may have a lower overall engagement rate than an influencer with a larger but less engaged audience in a more general niche.
By analyzing engagement rates alongside other metrics, such as audience demographics and brand fit, you can ensure that you find the right influencer for your brand’s specific needs and goals.
3. Forget about authenticity
Authenticity is a crucial factor to consider when evaluating potential influencers for your brand. Consumers are becoming more and more savvy regarding influencer marketing and can quickly spot when an influencer’s content is inauthentic or insincere. By working with authentic influencers who genuinely believe in and support your brand, you can create a more genuine and meaningful connection with your target audience.
For example, suppose your brand is committed to sustainability and environmentalism. Working with influencers who share those values can help reinforce your brand’s message and create a more authentic connection with your audience. In addition to sharing your values, look for influencers who have a genuine interest in and affinity for your brand and products.
Another way to ensure authenticity is to watch out for fake influencers.
Unfortunately, influencer marketing has also led to fake influencers who use fake followers, likes, and comments to appear more influential than they actually are. To avoid being duped by counterfeit influencers, look for red flags such as sudden spikes in followers or engagement, a lack of engagement from their followers, or a mismatch between their engagement and follower count.
By prioritizing authenticity in your search for influencers, you can create a more genuine and effective influencer marketing campaign that resonates with your target audience.
Valentine’s Day is the day set to celebrate love and couples. For cynical marketers, it’s the perfect day to push roses and chocolate. But while these products are deeply connected with the day they are not the only products that can benefit from a targeted campaign in late January, or early February.
First of all, it’s important to recognize that Valentine’s Day is not the only holiday in the period, and even if much newer Galentine’s Day is building a stable following and is a perfect opportunity to improve the sales of self-care and women-targeted products.
Furthermore, understanding the feel of both holidays and crafting any campaign to match it. Luckily the feeling of both campaigns is very similar: they are aimed at showing love and appreciation to the people we have around may they be a romantic partner or a group of friends.
What is Galentines Day?
Born out of NBC’s sitcom Parks and Recreation, Galentine’s Day takes place on the 13th of February and is all about ladies celebrating ladies.
Galentine’s Day was first introduced in S2 Episode 16, aired on the 11th of February 2010. From there the concept picked up steam and never stopped. Even after the series ended, many of the female cast members came together to celebrate it yearly. And they are not the only ones: Michelle Obama and Lizzo among many other celebrities celebrate the holiday. Galentines is all about women’s friendship and empowerment and can be the perfect time to make a thoughtful gift to the women in your life.
Why should your brand have Valentine’s or Galentine’s Day marketing?
Q1 is a notoriously slow period for consumer sales, coming up right after the holidays, it has to face a smaller purchase power from many customers. Valentine’s and Galentine’s Day has the potential to mitigate this dry period by highlighting how is possible to celebrate your loved ones without breaking the bank (Sorry De Beers this article isn’t for you). In many cases, as you can see in our examples 2 and 4, a campaign before Valentine’s and Galentine’s Day can highlight different aspects of your offering and show unexpected uses.
Why influencer marketing is the optimal choice for Valentine’s/Galentine’s Day?
Influencer marketing is especially effective for these holidays since both dates are about connections, warmth, and the affirmation we give and receive. Influencers are seen as a close confidant, and their suggestions are taken to heart by many, especially when it comes to micro-influencers.
By employing influencer marketing during the Valentine’s/Galentine’s Day period, your campaign will have an authentic and personal feel that other channels are not able to reach.
To help you create the perfect campaign around Valentine’s Day we have rounded up 4 of the best examples of influencer marketing campaigns for you to take inspiration from.
Skims Valentine’s Day marketing
Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand Skims celebrates Valentine’s Day with a special store featuring a collection for the day dedicated to love. With a range of products from lingerie to comfy loungewear for him and her, Skims wants to appeal to a broad and differentiated audience. To do so, they enrolled many micro-influencers on TikTok, each with a different style, body, and age. Each influencer presents a single piece of clothing that fits their unique persona. The campaign is wide enough to reach both partnered people, with more risque designs, and single women, with more comfortable fits.
Dove Galentine’s Day Marketing
Dove has a long tradition of running Valentine’s Day or better Galentine’s Day marketing campaigns. As a leading personal care brand, Dove is in the perfect position to constitute a thoughtful gift to remind the people next to you to take a moment to relax and focus on themselves.
Dove shows their commitment to making everyone feel special by providing the influencers in its campaigns with cute boxes containing all that is needed to have a self-care experience. This campaign has been so successful in highlighting Dove’s potential as a gift or treat around Valentine’s Day that it has been repeated over multiple years.
Touchnote Valentine’s Day Marketing
TouchNote is a British online platform that allows you to design and print personalized gift cards. Valentine’s Day is a perfect moment for their offering, and they maximize their impact. They partner with influencers and show how their cards can be used in many different ways: from playful to loving and all the shades in between. By employing a wide array of different influencers, it’s possible for them to reach different niches and have a very varied message while being consistent about their core offering.
Rite Aid is a drugstore chain that along with pharmaceuticals offers also personal care products, sweets, and stationery. Due to their varied offerings, they are perfectly positioned to be the one-stop shop to make a thoughtful gift for your Valentine or Galentine. In their influencer marketing campaign, they partnered with small local influencers and had them head to a nearby Rite Aid, then compose a gift bag for their significant other or their gals.
In one instance, they even pushed a step further and contacted a recent single influencer to show how Valentine’s Day would have been a great opportunity for self-care even if not part of a couple.
What does a Valentine/Galentine’s Day marketing campaign need?
No matter if you are targeting couples or groups of friends, the password is always authenticity. Both celebrations are aimed at showing how much we care about the people around us and how special they feel to us, and nobody feels special with a generic gift.
A campaign targeting this particular period should aim to highlight customization and personalization options if those are available. Otherwise, you may use the Skims route and focus on the unicity and fit of your product.
For best results, micro-influencers are going to be once again a winning choice: they allow marketers to reach audiences based on much more strict criteria than larger content creators. Furthermore, they are seen as more authentic and trustworthy therefore more likely to have an impact on purchase decisions, especially during holidays that call for a personalized touch.
In this article, we will explore the key factors to consider when selecting the right influencer for your next campaign. By the end of this article, you’ll better understand how to choose the right influencer who can help you achieve your campaign goals and reach your target audience effectively.
In today’s fast-paced world, traditional advertising methods are less effective than they once were. Consumers are bombarded with overwhelming ads daily, making it difficult for businesses to stand out. That’s where influencer marketing comes in.
Influencer marketing is a highly effective way to reach your target audience by partnering with individuals with loyal followers on social media platforms. However, choosing the right influencer for your campaign can be daunting.
Define your campaign goals and target audience
Decide what results your campaign aims to bring and how is going to achieve them, also consider narrowing down the audience you are interested in reaching.
Before choosing an influencer, you must have clear your campaign goals and target audience.
What do you want to achieve with your campaign? Do you want to increase brand awareness, drive sales, or promote a new product/service? Defining your campaign goals is always the first step to preparing a clear and effective campaign, even in influencer marketing.
Once you have defined your campaign goals, it’s essential to understand your target audience.
Who are they? What are their interests, values, and demographics?
Understanding your target audience will help you choose an influencer whose followers match your target audience. For example, if you’re targeting Gen Zers, you should partner with an influencer with a predominant Gen Z following.
Having clear your campaign goals and target audience will help choose the right influencer. Target audience is critical since each creator has a different audience. Recognizing whose creators have access to the audience you are looking for will be a game changer for any campaign. If you don’t know how to identify creators’ unique demographics, tools like CreatorDB can help you. With CreatorDB, you get access to each creator’s demographics, which allows you to search for specific criteria to find who fits your requests quickly.
Look for influencers who align with your brand values
The influencer you partner with should not only be related to your industry but also be compatible with your brand values and mission in order to create better and more fitting content.
Once you have defined your campaign goals and target audience, looking for influencers who align with your brand values is the next step. The influencers you choose will represent your brand, so the more your and their values overlap less this will look like only a commercial partnership.
Start by identifying influencers in your niche or industry. Look for influencers who have previously discussed your brand and share similar values. For example, if you’re a sustainable fashion brand, you may want to partner with an influencer passionate about sustainable living.
Being able to find influencers that align with your brand’s values is going to evolve into more genuine content. You will have to dive into each potential partner’s previous content to identify how they have engaged with similar topics or products and if they would fit your brand well.
Avoid influencers previously working for your direct competitors. However individuating previous partnerships can take a lot of work to do manually. You can use CreatorDB platform to individuate the sponsored content of each creator and know who they worked with.
Choosing an influencer who aligns with your brand values and can genuinely promote your product or service will help ensure their audience will resonate with your brand. It will also help you build a long-term relationship with the influencer, which can lead to future collaborations.
Analyze the influencer’s reach and engagement
Before partnering with an influencer, analyzing their reach and engagement on social media is essential. The influencer’s reach is the number of people who see their content, while their engagement is the number of people who interact with it, such as likes, comments, and shares.
To learn more about which metrics to look at, read our Analytics 101.
Reach and engagement are often negatively correlated: large influencers have higher reach due to their sizable following, but their content gets interactions from a small percentage of their followers. Small content creators have a limited reach but often have highly engaged audiences. Depending on your goal, choose one or the other.
Determine the influencer’s authenticity and credibility
Influencer marketing builds on the idea of trust. Consumers trust influencers to provide them with honest opinions and recommendations. Therefore, when choosing the right influencer it is crucial to choose one that is authentic and credible in its audience’s eyes.
Research the influencer’s content to ensure it aligns with their brand and values. Look for influencers who are transparent about sponsored content and disclose their partnerships. This transparency builds trust with their audience and shows they are authentic and credible.
Choosing an authentic and credible influencer will help you build trust with their audience and, in turn, build trust with your audience. It will also ensure you partner with influencers who can give your brand a positive image and reputation.
Consider the cost and logistics
Take into account rates for posts, expenses that you may incur if you want to ship them a product, and how distance and timeline affect the whole partnership.
Influencers can charge different rates for sponsored content, depending on their following, engagement rate, and type of content. When considering the cost, ensure that it aligns with your budget and that the partnership is worth the investment.
It’s also essential to consider the logistics of partnering with an influencer. Will you provide the creators with promotional products? Will they create their content? What is the timeline for the campaign, and how often will the influencer be posting? Ensure you and the influencer are on the same page regarding logistics and expectations.
Lastly, ensure that you have a contract that outlines the partnership’s details, including compensation, deliverables, and timelines. This contract will protect you and the influencer and ensure both parties understand the expectations.
Consideration of the cost and logistics of partnering with an influencer will help ensure that the partnership runs smoothly and that the campaign is successful. It will also help you maximize your investment and ensure you get the most value from the partnership.
Conclusion
Choosing the right influencer for your next campaign can be challenging, but it’s essential for the success of your marketing efforts. By defining your campaign goals and target audience, looking for influencers who align with your brand values, analyzing their reach and engagement, determining their authenticity and credibility, and considering the cost and logistics, you can choose an influencer who will help you reach your marketing objectives effectively.
Remember that the success of your influencer marketing campaign is not solely based on the number of followers an influencer has but on the quality of their content and engagement with their audience. By following these steps, you can ensure that you partner with an influencer who is a good fit for your brand and can help you achieve your marketing goals.
Influencer marketing is rapidly evolving. If brands want to stay current and competitive in this game, keeping up with the latest trends is a must + the easiest way.
By regularly refreshing industry knowledge, brands can take advantage of new opportunities, stay ahead of their competitors, and ultimately achieve their marketing goals.
What are the top influencer marketing trends in 2024 we should watch? Keep reading to find out.
Are you struggling to find the right Influencer?
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Influencer marketing is a modern marketing strategy where brands collaborate with individuals with a significant and active following on social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube
By partnering with the right influencer, brands can leverage the influencer’s credibility and authenticity to build trust with their followers and achieve their marketing goals. In the end, drive more conversion and sales.
Why is influencer marketing important for your brand?
Influencer marketing can help brands leverage the influencer’s credibility and authenticity to build trust with their audience and achieve their marketing goals. In other words, it makes people feel more connected to your brands and products.
Plus, data showed that 89% of marketers report that the ROI from influencer marketing is better than other marketing channels.
Most importantly, for brands, influencer marketing can drive sales organically and provide valuable insights with the right tool for modern marketing strategies. This way, brands can ensure to always remain on top of the game in the social media world.
Top influencer marketing trends in 2024
1. Social and shopping will be more connected
Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook are all working to introduce ways for users to shop without leaving the platform. Implementing direct-to-shop solutions allows these platforms to improve their monetization and capitalize on influencers.
By merging the social experience with shopping, these services can tighten the influencer-to-purchase pipeline and improve their ability to track influencer marketing campaigns even further, strengthening their monopoly on user behavior data.
For users, social shopping will translate into a frictionless experience from product discovery to purchase. In addition, it will reduce the need to provide payment information to untrusted third parties.
British fashion retailer Rebellious Fashion has adopted TikTok Shopping features to smoothen the collaboration with creators on the platform and allow users to shop directly when they see a fit they like. Thanks to this approach they boosted their sales by 400% with 80% of them coming from affiliates.
2. Micro-influencers will remain in the spotlight
This is not news to anyone who is following the influencer marketing scene: micro-influencers are far from being dethroned. While they may not make headlines like Snoop Dog, they drive true results. Combining highly engaged audiences, segmented niches, and localization, they will continue to be the top choice for marketers.
Established brands like Nike and Airbnb routinely create micro-influencer campaigns to complement their more attention-grabbing campaigns with celebrities. By doing so, they ensure that they cover all bases and appeal to as many people as possible.
Brands that rely on micro-influencers will not only see all the benefits that they bring but their social proof and perception in the eyes of the influencers following will also be enhanced.
Are you struggling to find the right Influencer?
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French underwear brand Undiz used AI-generated images instead of human models in a recent campaign. It’s hard to identify whether the strikingly refreshing visual was an AI-made campaign.
4. Analytics base campaigns will be the norm
Marketers used to consider the result of influencer marketing untrackable. However, modern software solutions and data-collecting services have changed this preconception.
They will bring more data into influencer marketing and establish data-backed campaigns at the core of influencer marketing.
This is also a point to consider before working with influencer marketing agencies. It’s essential to know if they use data-backed solutions to support their campaign execution so that you can make sure your budget and time go to the right place.
5. Long-term collaborations are going to be the norm
Brands are discovering that collaborations don’t have to be one-and-done.
Having long-lasting partnerships with relevant influencers will not only result in better-priced deals but also show the company’s interest in supporting content creators in its field.
In a sense, brands are going to move partnerships from a purely economic view to a more patronage view.
While ROI will always be in the back of every marketer’s mind, from time to time, it will be savvy to sponsor projects that may not have an immediate return but will establish your brand name in the niche.
Are you struggling to find the right Influencer?
Explore top influencers in Asia and worldwide.
Boost your marketing ROI with our trusted expertise.
Red Bull wants its brand to be associated with energy, sports, and performances, so it sponsors many extreme athletes and stunts.
While it may not be common for people to see a man jump from space, breaking the world record for supersonic freefall, and immediately buy a case of Red Bull, the stunt successfully garnered notoriety and connected the brand with extreme feats.
While RedBull and a few others have been taking this approach for years, most brands still miss out on consolidating their presence in key niches.
With this blog post, we hope you will understand the importance of keeping up with the industry trends and how it can help you stay ahead in the game.
Conclusion
Influencer marketing is always on the move, and keeping up with the latest trends is key for brands to stay ahead of the game. From cutting-edge tech to shifting consumer behavior, staying current with influencer marketing trends is vital to your success.
We all get excited when our team scores or the athlete we cheer for breaks a new record. Sports have attracted crowds for centuries, and those who excel at them have been hailed as gods and generate enormous fame in their prime. Names like Pele, Muhammed Ali, and Joe Di Maggio are widely known decades after they last competed.
It’s clear that athletes have a dear space in the minds of many but do they have what it takes to be used for marketing campaigns? In other words, are they influencers?
In this article, we will go through the history of athletes and sponsorships, which goes way back. How athletes can be a great tool for marketers in general and why 2024 will be a great year to create collaboration and partnerships with athletes for your influencer marketing campaigns.
But let’s go with the order:
Are athletes influencers?
Yes, athletes are influencers.
For over two thousand years, we have celebrated the people who excel in physical disciplines. We admired them and kept them in great regard with stories, songs, and paintings dedicated to them.
In a sense athletes are the basis for influencer marketing as we know it today: in ancient Rome, it wasn’t uncommon for gladiators to be paid by local merchants to promote their products since they were widely known and popular figures their names attached to an olive oil seller or a winery would have driven sales, which is not very different from what athletes now do with sponsorship deals.
At the beginning of the last century, physical culture, later renamed bodybuilding, became a thing and was spearheaded by Eugen Sandow who not only performed in strongman shows, a popular form of entertainment at the time but started attaching his name to many products related to health and fitness.
With the introduction of television, sports events broke the geographical barriers they always had, and the people at the top of certain disciplines would gain worldwide fame and notoriety. During the Cold War sports became a by-proxy competition between the blocks and audience investment grew even further.
Athletes as primordial influencers
Starting in the 90s, athletes have been increasingly commonly employed in marketing campaigns. The face of this time is Michael Jordan, who held sponsorships by Nike, Gatorade, Hanes, and Coca-Cola; he is estimated to have earned as much as $2.4 billion from these endorsements.
Social media gives fans and sports aficionados even more capillary access to athletes at every level. Social media also allows many athletes to narrate their journey and cultivate their fame even before they are at the crest of a sport.
Recently, a US Supreme Court ruling went against the long-standing practice of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) of forbidding its members from profiting off their name, image, and likeness. For marketers, this meant that the floodgates were open and college students could be part of marketing campaigns.
Do athletes make good influencers?
Athletes are great influencers. Not only do they have fans and followers who trust them and want to stay up to date with their content but compared to other “pure” influencers they have a clear journey they are going along. And having such an arc makes their story more compelling and relatable to many.
In many cases, the connection between an athlete and the product that he is sponsoring is more direct and evident than with a generic influencer. Combined with the fact that many athlete followers are likely to have similar links and interests, it makes athletes great for partnerships and collaborations.
Why athletes should be on every marketer watch list in 2024
In 2024, Paris will host the XXXIII edition of the Summer Olympics. With up to 10,500 athletes participating in the event, and hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide, this is an incredible opportunity for brands to gain exposure and get their name out. While enormous conglomerates can take on official sponsorships for most brands, it is necessary to be ingenuous and find other ways to attach their image to the event.
Looking at thetop 10 most-paid athletesin 2023 only Kylian Mbappé, Canelo Alvarez, and the golfers earned more from their salaries than their endorsements.
Figures like Roger Feder, Lionel Messi and LeBron James routinely partner with brands and endorse products.
To be associated with these worldwide known names brands are often ready to dish out tens if not hundreds of millions at the time. But excluding large multi-billion dollar companies, this is not a feasible course of action for most.
The beauty of athletes and influencers is that you don’t need to sign a multi-million dollar deal to achieve an effective campaign.
As much as it may be tempting to collaborate with some of the big names, most brands are better off connecting with smaller athletes who are active and upcoming in the geographies they intend to expand into.
The Olympics will be a prime moment in which some more “guerrilla” style tactics may deliver disproportionate results.
How to maximize your marketing with athletes in 2024
With all eyes on one large event like the 2024 Paris Olympics, there will be immense potential for lesser-known athletes to break through the mainstream and make a name for themselves in the public sphere.
While ordinarily attention is mostly relegated to a single sports event, the 2024 Olympics will gather 32 sports in more than 300 events and allow lesser-known sports to emerge and gain traction.
Concurrently we may see other figures emerge to public attention: non-participant athletes and other personalities providing coverage and commentary on the events.
But sticking to only athletes participating in the Olympics is the prime time to research them and individuate which ones will be in touch with the target audience and geographies you want to tap into.
Once these are identified, you can contact them and find which ones are willing to collaborate with your brand. You can find more niche sports and disciplines that fit your ICP and your wallet.
Once the selection has been done and you identified who is willing to work with your brand, you can start to roll out the campaign. While big brands will have their logo plastered on every backdrop and product placed on the tables during press conferences, you will have access to a more intimate and personal space. The athletes feed.
During the Olympics, many relatively unknown athletes will be catapulted to stardom and they will gain a great amount of exposure. After seeing them competing people will be wondering about them, searching them on Google and following them on social media, where you will be ready to meet them.
Thinking long term
But athletes are not only a good investment in the time of the Olympics.
As I have described above, the connection between sports and marketing has existed long ago; it will continue for as long as sports will draw in crowds of adoring fans.
Investing in young promising athletes is great for many companies that want to start or expand their influencer marketing: they are authentic, they have a story to tell, their life empowers the audience, and they can be much more cost-effective than other influencers.
Companies like Nike have successfully established early partnerships with upcoming athletes to see them boom to worldwide celebrities like Michael Jordan and Cristiano Ronaldo.
While picking such an extreme level of success early on may require more luck than anything else brands can still find success and good returns from collaborating with athletes in the regional circuit.
FAQs
1. How do athletes navigate the balance between their sports careers and their roles as influencers without compromising their athletic performance or personal brand?
Athletes carefully schedule their training and influencer activities, ensuring their sports performance remains their top priority while also maintaining a genuine and relatable personal brand online.
2. What are the long-term impacts on an athlete’s career after they engage in influencer marketing, especially after their competitive career ends?
Engaging in influencer marketing can extend an athlete’s career visibility and provide financial opportunities beyond their competitive years, aiding in a smoother transition to post-sports endeavors.
3. How do regulations around athlete endorsements vary internationally, especially with events like the Olympics that involve participants from many different countries with diverse rules?
The rules for athlete endorsements are diverse across countries, requiring athletes to adapt to different legal landscapes, especially during international competitions like the Olympics, where multiple national regulations might apply.
If you’re interested in knowing more about influencer regulations in different countries and regions, here we have prepared an E-book for you!
Social media are the main tool todiscover and research new products and services. And influencer marketing is necessary for brands that want to establish themselves. While crafting and executing influencer marketing campaigns is quite simple contacting and partnering with influencers can be hard and complicated, at least the first few times.
In this article, we will present 7 tips for you to partner with influencers confidently and with a valuable offer for both parties.
Influencer marketing campaign workflow
Campaign Ideation
Influencer marketing campaigns are born out of the drawing table of a brand or an agency. Starting by individuating an area that would need improvements, often sales or brand awareness. The team will come up with a strategy to tackle the issue that involves collaborating with influencers. The strategy should also outline what are the KPIs that mark its success.
After having shortlisted a few potential influencers to collaborate with comes the outreach phase. The campaign idea is pitched to them and it can develop into a negotiation around compensation and objectives.
Campaign execution
Once an agreement has been reached is time for the content creators to prepare the deliverables for the campaign. This moment generally includes a series of revisions of the content from the brand or agency in order to make sure the content fits with the brand image.
When the content is satisfying for all the parties it gets published and comes the time to track the campaign.
Goal tracking
Monitoring results and engagement in order to evaluate KPIs accomplishment.
Based on the content performances many brands will start considering certain influencers for long-term collaborations.
How to create a killer influencer marketing campaign?
In a sense influencer marketing campaigns truly embody McLuhan’s famous phrase “The medium is the message”. Because they connect customers, and brands through influencers these campaigns need to take into account the specificities of each influencer.
Differently from every other advertising medium-influencer have their own preferences and style. And they should all be taken into account when deciding about the collaboration.
The unique style of a creator should never be seen as a detriment to the campaign but as a strength to empower the message.
If a brand understands the unicity and potential of the creators they are partnering with they can easily incorporate it into their influencer marketing campaign. Creating a more engaging and captivating experience for potential customers.
Why partnering with influencers can be difficult
Influencers per se are not difficult to find, just looking at the discovery page of Instagram you may see tens of them. But finding the right ones for a brand is a more complicated task. Following numbers are not enough, there is a need for a convergence of values, fields of expertise, and much more.
And after having found the right ones, many influencers may be reluctant to partner with a brand that they are not sure they can trust. They are going to present it to their audience and one wrong collaboration can break the trust that is established between them.
1 – Find common values and interests
When partnering with influencers, the first aspect to look at is shared values.
Before considering partnering with any influencer a brand should do its due diligence. Look at the content the influencer has created. Have an idea of their style and tone, and evaluate how it fits with the brand image.
By getting familiar with the creator’s content is also possible to individuate common values and interests. Having overlapping interests is a great starter for collaboration.
Once the common points are found be mindful to include them in the pitch and explain how they are important for the campaign, this is going to make the partnership feel the fruit of a common vision.
Example
Gabi DeMartino is a beauty influencer with 4.4 million followers on Instagram and 3+ million on YouTube. She is outspoken about her passion for self-care, plastic surgery, and luxurious items. Her vlog after her third nose job was the perfect occasion for Gabi to bring up her love for Fraîcheur Ice Globes. The collaboration not only felt natural because of the situation she was in, with her discomfort mitigated by the Ice Globes, but also because the product fitted perfectly with her style.
2 – Collaborate with experts
Prominent members of an industry or experts on a specific matter are often also influencers who have created a following around themselves. By partnering with them, it is possible to foster a deep relationship between thought leadership and the brand.
Sponsoring industry-related events, papers, and research is a long-established practice that can help to bring a brand’s name to the forefront.
Similarly, this can be done on social media through partnerships with industry leaders and experts.
Organizing virtual panels and roundtables is a great way to offer not only brand exposure but also influencers the possibility to present their expertise and network.
While unconventional, it offers the possibility to present the brand as dedicated to the furthering of the industry and wanting to engage in serious discussions.
Example
When Yakult wanted to highlight the value of its products, it partnered with doctor and YouTuber Ricky’s Time. Ricky is an officially certified nutritionist and clinical scientist. Through his YouTube channel, Ricky helps people stay informed about health and well-being. A doctor’s approval is a powerful endorsement for a product like Yakult which is targeting a health-conscious audience.
3 – Include social value
Leaving a positive impact is always a great incentive. Connecting a campaign to a tangible and positive impact in the real world is going to provide ulterior incentives to the content creators to participate.
Showing interest and support for causes a creator sides with is going to create a more favorable image in the minds of the creator and its audience.
Example
Arts and crafts content creator DIY Danie has a history of scoliosis and knows the danger of bad sleeping posture. Thanks to her background, she was a great choice for Derila and their optimized sleep pillow line. By connecting the product to her condition, she could transfer credibility and trust in the brand and its pillows.
4 – Make a compelling offer
Content creators and influencers, as many others don’t want to work for free. Be sure to be respectful of their time and craft by offering fair compensation for their job.
Many expect content creators to work in exchange for free products or services, and while this is true in some cases it is not the norm.
Compensation for influencers can follow a few different models:
Flat rate, where the total price is established beforehand and performances are not going to affect it.
Results-based, which can use indicators like views and likes multiplied for a flat rate to price the content the base of its achievement.
Commission-based, the creator is going to receive a percentage for each sale that is directly traceable to them.
A mixed rate is generally configured as a flat rate plus a results bonus for reaching of certain levels on the likes, views, or conversions.
Monetary incentives are the most direct and obvious but in certain cases focusing on other perks can also be powerful motivators.
Exclusive access to products, custom modifications, and other similar approaches can be very enticing for creators in your industry.
Here is why you should not use an affiliate program when it comes to influencers.
Example
Sometimes, after the creators know a certain brand is interested in sponsoring them, they will develop ambitious content ideas. This is the case for Jbao and World of Tanks: being an engineer in his previous career he proposed to put together a homemade tank for promoting the game. The project was more costly than a simple playthrough video, but it also reached a much higher level of notoriety and views.
5 – Creative Content Synergy
Don’t limit yourself to integrations or standard content formats. Each creator has their own voice and a way to express themselves and integrate them into your marketing campaign.
By proposing ideas that fit the influencer content style is going to be more likely to be accepted and to have delivered a campaign that is truly effective.
Combining the influencer’s style with the brand goals is going to deliver a campaign that resonates authentic and genuine.
Example
Artisans de demain is a traveling duo always on the move that creates extremely high-quality content from their travels around the world. When Acer wanted to promote its newest compact line of PCs there was no better matchup than with Artisans de demain. Both their situation and history and their artistic quality were perfect to highlight the value and characteristics of the new laptop line.
6 – Long-Term Relationship Building
The possibility of long-term collaboration is going to show dedication and support to the influencers involved
While many companies prefer one-off collaboration, the real value of influencers is in the long game. Showing true interest in partnering with them, not just for brief access to their audience, is going to be a great signal about your brand’s commitment.
Developing long-lasting relationships is not only cheaper but is also a strong signal to the audience of those influencers. It shows commitment to the collaboration beyond immediate sales and support for the creator’s values.
Not every influencer a brand partners with should become a brand ambassador, but there should be a clear idea of what would constitute a good candidate.
Example
Benefitbug is a Korean Maplestory streamer with over 250K subscribers. Many may expect that a VPN sponsorship would be almost a mandatory step in such a streamer career. Benefitbug was able to include advantages specifics for its audience in the ad read making it very successful and pushing NordVPN to extend the collaboration to other 8 integrations and obtain extra exposure and conversions at a lower cost.
7 – Staying open about expectations and deliverables.
Content creators may have ideas about how to deliver your message in the best possible way.
They know their audience better than anyone else and their whole career is based on creating content that resonates with them.
By discussing expectations and deliverables details is possible to obtain concepts that better fit the specifics of a creator’s audience.
It can also be a very important part of how KPIs are identified and calculated.
Example
Softcore erotic ASMR video may not be the first medium that a marketer would think of for promoting a videogame but in the case of Arrukai and Erolabs, it was a match made in heaven. The content creator specializes in ASMR roleplay that revolves around male figures being flirty. By adding a twist about distraction were able to create a seamless ad for NU: Carnival.
Conclusion
Influencer marketing is a powerful tool that can help most brands to establish themselves. To do it correctly is important to consider the influencers themselves for what they are: people passionate about certain topics and able to gain attention around them.
Finding influencers with common values, including a social value in the campaign, and establishing a content strategy that is mindful of their unique characteristics are great steps to make it easier for an influencer to accept a partnership and see the value for themselves in it.
Fair remuneration, the possibility of long-term relationships, and openness to inputs on the campaign results and contents are all aspects that will help to have good and healthy connections that not only promote sales but also boost the brand image.
You may have heard of affiliate marketing and thought to yourself: “A way to gain promotion with no upfront costs? That’s amazing”. You probably also know about influencers, and who better than people with an online following to promote your product, especially if there is only to pay for the results.
But, as is often the case, what sounds too good to be true has a catch.
While the monetary stake may seem low, there is more at play with affiliate marketing under the surface.
Here we explain why combining an affiliate program with influencers may be one of the worst ideas in a marketer career.
What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a marketing tactic by which promoters earn a percentage of the sales done through them.
Affiliate marketing is often done by providing each affiliate with personalized links to the products using which the brand can track sales and calculate the kickback for every affiliate.
Many affiliate marketing programs have very low entry barriers and encourage as many users as possible to join.
Affiliate marketing offers the possibility to earn for many bloggers and website owners who specialize in small niches with content like product reviews.
Different platforms implement affiliate marketing differently: Amazon, for example, provides a 10% commission for any sale done through their personal link regardless of where it comes from.
Meanwhile, Etsy has different programs if it is promoted through social media or other avenues.
Platforms try to incentivize the promotion through channels they deem respectable and advantageous for their image and reach.
At the core affiliate marketing is a performance-based way to remunerate successful promotions that converted.
In practice, it gets easily exploited with low effort and spammy content that is likely to hurt a brand image in the long run.
Why affiliate marketing is appealing?
Affiliate marketing allows companies to have increased exposure and brand awareness without committing any budget before the sales are actually in.
With this strategy, the brand does not have to provide content or directions and can let the affiliate do most of the heavy lifting to find out the strategies that work best with their audience.
Starting companies often find it appealing due to low costs and the huge potential of increasing visibility.
Affiliate marketing vs influencer marketing
Both affiliate marketing and influencer marketing use user-generated content (also known as UGC or consumer-generated content) to spread information about a product and convince new potential customers to make a purchase.
The main difference lies in the control over the content.
With influencers, there is a back-and-forth between the brand and creators to only put out content that aligns with both.
When using affiliate marketing, the brand does not have control over the content. Affiliates are not supervised and can prepare content without regard to the brand guidelines or image.
Affiliate marketing offers a hands-off approach while still providing the potential for a great level of reach and coverage for the products or the brand. But those who engage with it are strictly interested in making a sale as fast as possible often with disregard for other important aspects like, for example, brand recognition.
Influencer marketing offers a more controlled output of content and with it, it also comes a more mindful approach to the brand and the products since a campaign’s success is not only determined by short-term sales.
How do they combine?
In its more traditional approach, affiliate marketing has been mostly used by small site owners or bloggers to have a viable way to monetize their content. But social media becoming popular many brands have attempted to combine it with influencer marketing and institute a program specifically for affiliates with a large online following.
Their approach combines the hands-off affiliate marketing practice with qualifying criteria, often minimum social media following and engagement rate. Some programs will also specify which platforms to publish and which hashtags need to be used for the posts to qualify.
What are the drawbacks of combining affiliate marketing and influencer marketing?
While on paper the combination of affiliate marketing and influencer marketing may sound like a perfect strategy, the reality couldn’t be further from that.
Most influencers understand that they offer more than direct sales and will refuse a pure affiliate deal.
Creating good and engaging content is expensive and requires both time and resources. Offering a payout only when directly connected with a sale would not attract many serious content creators who take pride in their jobs.
From our experience most of the creators that will agree to affiliate type of deals are the ones that you will not want to have on board: low engagement, poor content, and questionable practices.
How to successfully combine affiliate marketing and influencer marketing?
While a pure affiliate program is going not to be enticing for most reputable influencers, there are ways to combine the two that are going to play into the strengths of each strategy.
For once, providing a base payment for the content shared is going to be the bedrock of any respectable influencer partnership. On top of that is possible to include a bonus for each sale done through their link.
This way the content creators will both have a stable baseline payment for their work and an incentive to craft the best-converting content they can think of.
For any questions about influencer marketing and how it can help your brand achieve your goals, we are here to answer them. Our team of expert campaign managers will craft and execute the right strategy for your goals so you can lay back and enjoy the benefits.
TL:DR
Affiliate marketing is not a great way to grow a respectable band and will cause many questionable practices to be associated with your name if not only implemented as a way to provide extra incentives.